2. Most parents want their children to go abroad just for short-term post graduate courses and then return to settle in India.

3. Only a select few go abroad for undergraduate courses, since they are very costly with no scholarships available at that level.

4. Most elders do not see the new emerging professions to be very secure. For them, being a doctor or engineer is still very respectable and pays well.

5. Though new professions like IT and technology have emerged, most parents still want their children to be doctors. It is still the top ranked profession, especially because it is considered very respectable.

Even in America, elders seem to want youngsters to take up medicine, according to a poll conducted in April. Most adults said they would recommend young men and women to be MDs.

The telephone survey asked around 1,000 adults what they would recommend to young men and women seeking career advice. One in five said they would advise young men to become doctors. And 17 percent said they would recommend the medical profession to young men.

A career in medicine, therefore, is the top ranked profession, ahead of careers in computers, technology, teaching or business, says the survey.

Career counsellors, however, say poll results are surprising since, in America, hardly anyone wants to be a doctor. "The profession involves lot of hard work and dedication, and is dissuaded by almost every youth in America," saysMalhotra.

"In India, it is the opposite. Also, most parents are not very comfortable with careers in the armed forces, which do not pay well. But parental advice also depends on the field in which the parents are," says Malhotra, noting that the civil services is also a very respected profession.

It must be noted that parental advice cannot be generalised and differs from city to city. In Delhi and Mumbai, careers in IT and computers are respected. In smaller towns, government jobs and banking are considered very 'secure'.

But what do the youth want?

Malhotra says, "IT, computers, call centres top the list, followed by engineering, medicine, law and media."

Twenty years ago, every girl wanted to be a teacher. Today, it is the last choice.